Attitudes toward Evolution at New England Colleges and Universities, United States

Special Issue released on Darwin Day

Paz-y-Miño-C G & Espinosa A. 2013. Attitudes toward Evolution at New England Colleges and Universities, United States. New England Science Public: Series Evolution 1(1): 1-32 (ISSN: 2326-0971). In NESP Series Evolution Vol 1 No 1, Paz-y-Miño-C and Espinosa compile the most significant results of their conceptual and quantitative studies on the patterns of acceptance of evolution at New England colleges and universities, conducted between 2009 and 2012.
The authors examined the views of New England Faculty and Educators of Prospective Teachers (higher-education faculty themselves, specialized in training future teachers) from 35 colleges and universities, as well as a representative sample of College Students from a Public, Private and two Religious institutions who were polled in three areas:
the controversy over evolution versus creationism versus Intelligent Design;
their understanding of how science and the evolutionary process work; and
their personal convictions concerning the evolution and/or creation of humans in the context of their religiosity.
The authors conclude that the controversy over science/evolution and creationism is inherent to the incompatibility between scientific rationalism/empiricism and the belief in supernatural causation, and that long-term harmonious coexistence between science/evolution and creationism –and all its forms— is illusory. According to Paz-y-Miño-C and Espinosa, societies will struggle indefinitely with this incompatibility, therefore the interaction between science/evolution and religiosity is destined to fluctuate historically between intense and moderate antagonism.